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Apple and AT&T Announce iPhone Service Plans
daveschroeder writes "Apple and AT&T today announced service plans for iPhone, 4 days before its release in the US at 6pm local time on Friday, June 29. The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes, and all include unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, rollover minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Any other standard AT&T service plan may also be used. A two year service plan is required, with a $175 cancellation fee if terminated early. In addition, activations are done via iTunes, so only the hardware is purchased in the store. Interestingly, activation of a contract via iTunes is required to enable the iPod/syncing functionality of the phone as well. (It will remain to be seen whether there are workarounds for this for those who only want the iPod functionality of iPhone, and whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.)"
whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.
I thought one could purchase an unlocked iPhone from the Apple stores, instead of going to AT&T?
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
- iPhone DOES have a user-accessible SIM tray.
.AppleSetupDone).
- Since one would presume the iPod functionality of the device still needs to work when the contract expires, there is probably going to be a fairly easy hack/workaround to use only the iPod functionality (e.g., perhaps just a file sitting somewhere, a la
- It will be interesting to see whether AT&T will unlock the phone on request, as they do for other GSM phones (for international travel and prepaid SIMs), and if that is the case, how well other carriers' networks work with iPhone (obviously sans things like Visual Voicemail).
- Still no word on battery replacement specifics, but it seems safe to assume that iPhone is the same as iPod in this respect; namely, that it is sealed and that the battery isn't "user accessible", but that there will still be plenty of ways to replace the battery yourself or via third parties if you so choose (battery failure under warranty would be covered by the warranty). I'm going to be tracking this issue here.
- Still no word on insurance or AppleCare, but since all iPods have AppleCare options ($59 for two years), iPhone probably will as well.
- Two more days to determine this for certain, but it appears that if only the iPod/syncing functionality (or first time setup, anyway) is what is tied with iTunes activation, WiFi via the browser will probably work fine as-is without a contract. Note: it is not certain that this is the case, but it seems likely. (Just a point of information; not stating this as inconrtovertible fact. The only way this might not be the case is if the entire phone is just locked until activated, which seems unlikely.)
- Also remains to be seen how "hackable" the phone is in general. Here's to hoping.
What about the iPhone?
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Some carriers define "unlimited data" as some arbitrary level, which once you break you either lose service, or are charged a hefty fee. Just something to keep in mind.
I don't understand the part about users "only wanting the iPod functionality of the iPhone". Why not just buy an iPod then?
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
I'd like to buy one...I'm still using my Motorla slvr. It's a nice phone but the iPone had me at ...well it just had me...unlimited data sounds pretty good :). The plans I will admit are a little pricey.
We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!
(It will remain to be seen whether there are workarounds for this for those who only want the iPod functionality of iPhone, and whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.)
Apparently, Apple had to make AT&T make changes to the voicemail system to accommodate some nifty features, so if you switched carriers, you might lose voicemail.
Nice slashvertisement there, Dave.
So, people aren't interested in this?
Ooookayyyy...
You want me to spend a minimum of $59.99/mo. + $499 for an iPhone?
No, I don't "want" anyone to do anything, other than know that plans have been released for iPhone.
Which is what a lot of people have been waiting for.
Which is why I submitted the story.
What else can you expect from a fat cat sconnie who prides himself on the BMWs he's owned and lists his top 'interest' as Apple?
Sorry I didn't submit as AC. Maybe I will next time to please you! And "fat can sconnie". Heh.
Also, I must deeply apologize for being interested in Apple. I know it's a rare ailment, and that it must offend you greatly. I'm almost shedding a tear!
Imagine a mobile Beowulf Cluster of these...
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
These plans are way overprized, but then again if you can afford this phone you can probably afford the plan (for 2 years minimum).
Same goes with a Hummer or a Porsche, if you can't afford the gas why bother buying the car
http://dotnetsamplechapters.blogspot.com/
"The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes,"
Man, it sure is expensive these days to get illegally wiretapped.
Dave, seriously. You are being trolled. Don't egg them on or they'll keep pestering you.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
$500 for the cheapest iphone, $60/month for the cheapest plan... I'm going to have to get a second job.
Are you a cell phone salesman? If not, I don't get what this guy's issue is with you submitting the story. If you are then whoopideedo, not like any vendor will sell different, better/worse plans than you. Waaaait...are you an Apple and/or AT&T exec? If so, then I totally agree with his response!
The article says, "Family plans are also available."
So how much are they?!
-Dave Schroeder found a great opportunity to nab some karma.
/. story?
-Slashdot is partly an advertisement site, as nothing else can explain this "story". Remind me how many other advertisers get to have every new detail about upcoming products made into a
-Dave Schroeder has a deep, abiding fear of using "the".
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Nope. I don't sell cell phones (and never have), don't work for Apple or AT&T/Cingular (and never have), and I won't have anything to do with iPhone sales (other than buying one myself on Friday).
I just submitted it because one of the most awaited pieces of information about iPhone was its plans, and since every other story here and on other tech blogs lately seems to be about iPhone...well, you get the idea.
Congrats for Apple on maintaining exorbitantly high prices on all of their products and services. If they can get enough suckers to buy this, then good for them. Just goes to show how powerful some smart marketing can be, even among supposedly "educated" consumers.
I don't respond to AC's.
MetroPCS was charging $99 a month here for unlimited minutes & no data, their service was terrible though, my brothers had alot of explaining to do with people since he's been using them.
I'm on a T-Mobile contract myself, 3000 minutes that are valid to any non-tolled number of the 48 contenental United States at anytime, unlimited mobile-to-mobile, & data for rates similar to the contracts from AT&T.
The service is ok, though I had to manually set my phone to piggyback on Cingulars' network when I was in Paoli Indiana last year.
I think the biggest issue for people is going to be trying to get everyone they know switched over so the mobile-to-mobile kicks in.
Alot of people are already in contracts with other companies & the people on pre-paid are going to laugh at a 2-year contract.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
If the phone calls will be running on voIP, which is *data*, then technically there should be no monthly limit on minutes. Who wants to be the first to try this out?
I think you may have just hit on the very reason why Apple isn't supporting 3rd party apps. I'll bet the deal with AT&T had some sort of language to prevent this very thing since many of the iPhone's coolest features require a lot of data access. Since non-unlimited data plans are nightmarishly expensive if you're a heavy web user (like I am), it seems almost a prerequisite that iPhone plans come with unlimited data.
Naturally, this opens up the very possibility you just mentioned, so both AT&T and Apple are probably very keen on making sure that it doesn't happen. Hence, no iPhone SDK for 3rd parties. All the bluster about controlling the experience is probably just that -- bluster meant to distract from the real issue.
Why else would Apple cripple a brand new platform that could fuel a rush of developers for them except to appease AT&T?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Last phone I bought was a Treo 650, thnking that I will be using the applications. A year later I use my phone for " Making phone calls".
There are four iPod, Apple, Handheld and Communications categories in this article.
I guess if that doesn't highlight the convergence of personal technologies I don't what else would.
I pay $20 for unlimited data on top of my $40 300 minute plan.
Unlimited data only costs $50 and up when its either a corporate plan or a data-only plan.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I currently pay $60 for 450 mins, unlimited data, and 1500 text messages for my Treo with Cingular. Thing is, I bought the Treo on eBay, and I swapped SIM cards from my old Motorola. So as far as Cingular is concerned, I'm still using that. They normally want to charge $40/month for unlimted data for Treos (as opposed to the $20 I'm currenly paying), which doesnt really make sense since unlimited dats is unlimited data.
With that in mind this isn't too bad of a deal. It's the same as what I'm paying though 200 text messages instead of 1500. I assume there will be iChat for the iPhone which will use the data plan, so that won't be so bad.
A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
$60/mo for that many minutes, unlimited data, and 250 texts is an extremely reasonable price. If you disagree, you really are an apple-hating troll.org/blog. It's gonna be reeeeally hard to keep myself from dumping like $700 to switch and get this thing right away.
From this announcement:
...iPhone activation requires an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; a valid Social Security number (as required by AT&T); the latest version of iTunes available at www.itunes.com and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems [blah, blah, blah...]
System Requirements
Social Security number? WTF? This is 2007, companies that want my business should need my social security number.
As the Social Security Administrationtells us, "Your number is confidential... You should be careful about sharing your number with anyone who asks for it (even when you are provided with a benefit or service)." I reluctantly give it to banks and brokerages who need it for tax purposes. I very, very reluctantly give it to medical organizations.
A phone company? No, thank you.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Everyone knows that the 3rd gen will have a ball massager and and a cheek flosser. However, I am really stoked for the 4th gen which will cut the price of the phone to .25 of its original price, as Apple always does.
According to the rumor mills, the 4th gen may also come in watermellon red, which as far as I'm concerned is the color of Kings.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Don't most services still require a SSN for credit checking purposes? I certainly didn't have an option when I signed up for my cable internet, or phone service.
I get 750 minutes, free nights/weekends, unlimited data (EVDO), and insurance (if the phone dies or starts acting weird, I get a new one at no charge) for $68.00/month from Sprint, and the HTC 6700 will do just about everything the iPhone does, is easily hackable, can be safely overclocked, has a wide variety of compatible software, has an easy to develop for platform (Windows Mobile), and it will even run linux.
And Apple/AT&T want the general public to pay HOW much for WHAT again?
I can't wait to laugh at my friend's iPhone when he gets it.
"It will be interesting to see whether AT&T will unlock the phone on request, as they do for other GSM phones (for international travel and prepaid SIMs), and if that is the case, how well other carriers' networks work with iPhone (obviously sans things like Visual Voicemail)."
This runs contrary to everything I've read, heard, and personally experienced with unlocking a phone from AT&T (Cingular). Has their policy changed recently? All evidence I have indicates you must wait 90 days before they will unlock a phone.
Can this bring to an end the theory the phones are, in fact subsidized? $60 is a reasonable price IMHO for voice plus unlimited data. I don't really use the phone part of my phone that often, so the plan is perfect.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Did anyone else notice this screenshot in the video?
http://bayimg.com/LAcLFaabd
It shows an iPhone with 75GB of storage. Earlier in the video they show the storage as 8GB.
Any speculation as to a hard drive version becoming available sometime soon?
Free nights & weekends seem to be a staple among wireless plans...but I don't see any mention of it in the iPhone plans.
I have free nights & weekends with AT&T now (which start at 7pm, which usually costs $10/mo. extra, but they threw me a bone to apologize for some chronically lousy service a while back...normally they start at 9pm, I believe)...but since I rarely exceed 300 minutes/month, not having them isn't much of a deal-breaker for me.
However, I don't understand why they wouldn't include that feature in the iPhone plans...they're already including unlimited data use, why not just throw in some unlimited voice use during off hours, like they do with all their "normal" plans? Would that break the bank, or are they afraid all their anticipated new customers will overwhelm their systems?
Like I said, this doesn't affect me too much, but it does strike me as a big odd.
Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
I dunno what the big deal is. In the US, you buy a phone and you're signing a 1 or 2 year contract, that is the norm here.
My phone with SprintPCS is about $80/mo, unlimited nights and weekends...I think about 1000 anytime minutes, SMS is extra, but, I don't use that much, nor do I ever come close to the daytime minutes. I have the full Vision plan...unlimited data, picture mail...and since I 'unlocked' the bluetooth modem capabilities in my Samsung A900...I can tether it to my laptop as needed.
The latter point, is the main reason I'm not going with the iPhone in Jan. when my current contract is up. It isn't price, it is the stated fact that iPhone will NOT allow tethering to a laptop as a modem as part of their 'unlimited' data plan.
The price and monthly cost is no big deal to me....but, I want my tethering capability.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Heh. It appears that there is a little bug in the presentation video. Once the presenter has loaded everything onto the phone, the iTunes space utilization bar shows that the phone has 74GB of capacity. WTF? see http://blog.i2pi.com/2007/06/26/iphone-74gb-model/ for photos.
:wq ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sure, I am interested. This news indicates a minor step towards making the iPhone viable for me.
You will let us know when the iPhone is finally made available unlocked so that we can use it with any carrier of choice, and when plans are available with no time periods for those who buy the whole phone up front, and when Apple finally releases the codes to allow us to develop and deploy our own applications, right? Be sure to let your buddy Steve know that we are waiting.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
The amount of iPhone articles are rediculous. I don't really care much for a new phone that has weaker specs than existing phones that has been on the market for months. So the iPhone has a touchscreen instead of buttons, whoopiedoo! That should not earn it seven articles per week. Every week. The real story is not the iPhone, it is how Apple has managed to buy every tech related media outlet out there to run articles about the iPhone for them.
Football Odds
guess i'll just have to carry both my ipod and razr...and wait till i'm home to watch the latest youtube video. Stupid people, $600 phone.
IIRC they have a blurb in the TOS of the $20 plan saying you may not use the handset as a modem and they certainly do their damnedest to try and prevent you from using that feature, though basic GPRS is pretty crap on their network. I just got a 3G data card and they want $50/month for "unlimited" data for that.
I wonder if the SIM card trick would work on it. I mean, they had to assign it a telephone number (quoi?), so methinks they might not be able to tell the difference.
They're much easier to use than regular minutes, and they look a hundred times cooler.
bkd
HTH?
This is indeed a pretty good plan.
Compare this to my Cingular $40/mo for 450 mins, then $40/mo for unlimited data and 1500 text messages for my Blackberry Pearl. That's $80/mo for a Blackberry user. (OK, I get a corp discount, so it's really $68/mo for me).
With Cingular's rollover feature, 450 minutes is plenty... I have some several thousand rollover minutes.
I don't think the iPhone can be unlocked or I wouldn't even worry about it. One of the big features of the iPhone is the visual voicemail and that wouldn't work with any other providers. One of course, can choose not to use that function and be happy with the phone but what's the point?
[%] Cingular Ringtones
It's been my experience with Cingular (now AT&T) that when I call my friends with prepaid phones like tracphone, I do not get charged anything, they expanded m2m , it's m2mc.
Also, AT&T announce the unity plan... free calls to and from at&t landlines, I look forward to finding out if Iphone plans include this as option or feature.
P.S. Don't forget about rollover minutes people. my 39.95 plan w/ 450 RO minutes is plenty for my taste. Take it easy the first month, then you can use as normal. Here in San Antonio, Tx, coverage is excellent.
Off topic, I used to love T-mobile, but they slammed me into a new contract, and it took Hours arguing with them. Once I learned of then Cingular's rollover minutes, and my then employer using Cingular for the entire workforce, It was an easy decision... now I'm out of contract, but still with them...just wish I had cash for this phone and Data.
AT&T deserves some credit for this novel approach to phone activation. They obviously had to work with Apple to provide an interface betwixt the companies and their computer systems.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Core 450 minute plan is $40/mo, so the $20/mo extra is unlimited data + 200 SMS. I recently was paying $10/mo for 1MB data and 400 SMS.
- 500 minutes voice
- Unlimited Data
- Unlimited Text
- GoogleMaps/GPS
60 Bucks a month.I have a 2 Gig SD card and I've basically use my phone as a (large) shuffle.. Granted the iPhone is cooler, and UI is better. Larger screen. ect.
I'm happy with my phone and Helio's service (so far) has been good. I use the maps/gps/direction thing almost every day - not nearly a true GPS, but I'm able to do the directions things in the car (no, not while i'm driving) or in a bar looking for the next place to hit up.
So no complaints. I don't think i'd shell out so much for the iphone - i think when my helio plan expires in 22 months, the iphones will be much cheaper and the rest of the marketplace will be forced to raise the bar - so my choices should be good.
I know all cellular carriers are asses and try to screw you, but AT&T took special pride with this. In 3 years I was with them I never got a correct bill, buying the phone added tons of new options, next month I complained about options I didn't want, then I got others that I didn't want. Why would I get equipment coverage on a 20 dollar phone when the deductible is 20 dollars?
After a while I gave up on this because I had called 6 times and each time I never got a satisfactory resolution, then they joined with Cingular, I tried to solve my bill again, thinking the change would improve service, (haha)finally they started putting random servicecharges from companies I never did business with (such as downloading ring tones or such). Telling them about it got that charge removed for the next month (they claimed they couldn't do anything about the month before), and the next month I got two new charges on my bill, plus some unnecessary plans that I never asked for.
After 2 years of being screwed I tried to cancel the contact. That took almost 6 months to cancel correctly because apparently I was in a contract even though I pointed out that the contract was up, they claimed I signed a second one. Don't remember that. They finally relented after 6 months (during which I stopped paying of course and was on Tmobile. Oh yeah and they sounded so worried that my cell phone service was terminated, funny that.) and gave me a free disconnect. Sounds good until the next month I got another bill, Then I was hounded for that bill for another 4 months which phone calls going to them explaining that I didn't even use the phone and I had canceled it. You'd think this is the end. Now they claim they owe me 6 dollars, and are unwilling to "forget it" so they send me a 5 page bill every month informing me of this. Since then I've moved.
I had a 40 dollar plan, I never paid under 50 dollars (one month it was 70, they did give me partial refunds that month) before taxes. I never had a correct bill, I had over 20 calls into their service department, and every time they claimed to have it right. Since leaving them I went to Tmobile, I have yet to have an incorrect bill. So while they claim these prices I'm beyond skeptical, because AT&T likes to screw the customer because they are the biggest, and they can get away with it.
BTW I don't care if you got perfect service, that's great, however this is one occurrence where a customer was completely screwed by that carrier, and I'm far from the only one. Though I'm sure I got one of the worse "packages".
With only Safari as the platform for 3rd party apps, there is a much smaller set of APIs to secure against a malicious app essentially being able to spy on every phone call, email;
Not an issue; that functionality is already handled by AT&T.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
"I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect -- and tax -- public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure."
Apple hasn't paid any tech sites to report on anything. This is genuine demand for information about the device. And for the last time it doesn't MATTER that there are other devices out there with better specs if the interface is ASS.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I'm not a huge Apple fanboy, but part of the reason is that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, and another part of the reason is that Microsoft software is so horrible that only a masochist would want to be locked into it whereas with Apple it's a mixed bag.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
Has anyone read anywhere if you can use the iPhone as a generic internet source via bluetooth/802.11 for a laptop or something like that? If it has unlimited data, it'd be nice to be able to pair it up with my laptop and get on the net from a "real" computer if I need to while I'm on the road and can't find a wifi hotspot. (Note.. I currently don't have a fancy-pants cell phone with data capability, so I'm a bit out of the loop on this kind of thing and I'm not sure if that feature is "normal" or not on these kinds of smart phones...)
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
Yeah, yeah.... I did the same thing, and had a Kyocera 7135 before it, even. Both times, I was convinced the phone was finally "good enough" at running useful apps that I'd do a lot more with it than than make/take calls. Both times, I was wrong.
But you have to admit, the iPhone looks FAR more capable than any of these other "smartphones". With my Treo 650, for example, my web browsing experience was a total joke. Most sites I tried to pull up simply crashed the browser with some kind of exception error. Other times, they worked, but had the links scattered all over the screen, making it almost impossible to figure out which part of the site they even corresponded with.
I remember, for example, going car shopping and taking my Treo with me, with the idea that I could quickly look up some used-car blue-book prices on Edmunds or Kelly Blue Book's web site. Nope... just futile!
It also appears it has a functional/useful built-in camera. Of course it's not going to stack up well against a good quality digital stand-alone camera, but sample photos circulating on the net sure look far better than the dark, dingy or blurry results I got out of my Moto Razr or Treo cameras!
The Google map integration of the iPhone looks like a very useful feature too. You can get directions to a restaurant or hotel, for example, and then dial the number to the place with a tap on the screen. I never had anything that worked nearly as well on my Treo. (I remember having a couple 411 directory type applets for it to find phone numbers of places, but half the time, they'd just come back with some kind of "service unavailable" message when I tried to use them.)
So the iPhone won't do Exchange push email, leaving it out for me, but I pay more for my contract with Cingular, don't get SMS for free, and am also stuck with EDGE data (there is only one clamshell WM device, and it is EDGE).
I have to admit to being somewhat curious as to whether I can just pop my SIM into the iPhone and party, but I'm not really prepared to pay that kind of dough until I see how things unfold.
And, of course, don't sweat the trolls.
Fat cat sconnie? lol, that's hilarious. I'm from Wisconsin and went to Madison so I gotta remember that one.
Looking at PR stuff, I can't find anything about keeping your number if you are changing carriers. I thought they had to support this. Am I mistaken? I'm considering taking the iPlunge when my verizon contract ends, but if I can't keep my number, moving to AT&T/cingular/etc is kind of a non-starter. How can/could Apple/ATT handle this in iTunes, anyway?
I can't believe Cingular, or AT&T, or at&t, of Cellular One, or whatever the hell these people are calling themselves today, has the audacity to actually demand a two year contract for a phone which they subsidize nothing.
The subsidized phone is supposed to be the great appeal to signing up for a contract - you get a phone that normally costs a few hundred dollars for nothing, or, at the very least, for a significant discount. While I did read they (Cingular - at the time) wanted to subsidize the phone, and it was Jobs who wouldn't allow it, that still does not justify such a steep price tag, while at the same time locking you into a contract you cannot get out of for a few years.
I worked at Cingular as a sales person a few years ago when the Razr came out, and I was shocked by the $500 - $600 price tag the phone came with. While it looked cool, I couldn't imagine anybody actually spending that kind of money for an otherwise basic flip phone. Boy was I proven wrong. The kicker to all this, of course, was that one couldn't actually purchase phone insurance for the Razr, due to its high price.
While I don't know if theft will be an issue for the iPhone, I certainly assume it will be. I also know there is no chance in hell I would ever even consider spending $600 on a phone, and also have a two year service contract shoved into my nether regions along side it. Cingular customer service is desperate to keep customer out of, or nearly out of their contracts. Two years? Good luck is something goes wrong.
Me? If I'm going to spend $600 on a tech device, I'll get a Playstation 3 and enjoy having a blu-ray player, and be even happier that it upscales my DVD's to 1080p. Sure, there's very few games for it now. But unless you're the kind of unintelligent basher whom can't see past their blinding disdain for Sony, you know they'll come out with some great games in the future. Personally, I would rather put my money there, and let the iPhone be damned. If Jobs is so arrogant he decides AT&T can't subsidize a cell phone, screw him. He will never get my business.
Give me my laptop and my W810i any day.
Instead of buying an iPhone, purchase a Playstation 3! It's only 99 US dollars more than the price of an iPhone and if you factor in the price of the lowest plan, you can afford a new game each month! We promise to make some fun games really soon now.
Of course you won't be able to call your friends and tell them about how much fun your new PS3 is without a phone. We are working on that and it will be coming on the Playstation Network after the new and exicting way way better than PS2 or Xbox 360 games come out.
Your friend,
Kaz Hirai
Honestly, $60 for 8 hours of voice chat?
Yes, and unlimited data...
I want the phone more as a PDA than a phone; I will not even come close to using the minutes offered. But I will make use of the unlimited data aspect, even with using it on WiFi fairly often in addition to the cell network.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You don't have dealings with many companies, do you?
Apple is the picture of openness compared to some.
While it's actually rather limited due to the slow 2.5EDGE system, does this mean you can buy minimum minutes and VoIP your calls all month? Enquiring minds and all that yada yada.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
How much does the killer app cost?
I'm glad this kind of information is finally getting out. I am definitely someone who is willing to plunk down the kind of cash needed for the iPhone and was even prepared to do this coming weekend with a trip to Fairbanks, AK, assuming there would be even be stock of them available. However, I did NOT want to be locked into an AT&T contract given their spotty-at-best coverage in this state.
I have full faith and confidence that some enterprising young ne'er-do-wells will find the proper workarounds to unlock full functionality of the device and maybe even get it to the point I can slide my Cellular One sim card into it for at least partial functionality on the data side of things.
I am guessing about a month or so will be my wait time. The $600 in my pocket whimpers a bit, but it will just have to be patient.
"YHBT HTH YHL HAND" = You have been trolled. Hope This Helps. You Have Lost. Have A Nice Day.
+5, Truth
My phone with SprintPCS is about $80/mo, unlimited nights and weekends...I think about 1000 anytime minutes, SMS is extra, but, I don't use that much, nor do I ever come close to the daytime minutes.
I heard the other day on NPR how it was difficult for Apple or any other hardware manufactuer to get into the phone market because of the service cartel. Personally, I think talking about $80/mo as if its nothing is crazy. I pay like $30/mo for my phone and I think I'm getting ripped off (~ 12-15 of that is taxes and fees and other crap).
I simply don't understand how I can use the internet for $20-40/mo, unlimited "minutes" worldwide access, but talking to someone on the phone frequently costs more?
To me, in 2007, phone service should be less than $20/mo, but being that people are willing to spend over $100/household for phones, the phone service people will gladly take their money.
I supposed to an extent, you are right. In my case...since I cut the landline, I don't shell out for that ~$30/mo...so, my cell phone bill is my only phone bill. It doesn't see that expensive to me in that light, and especially due to me not getting charged for LD calls anymore, that was a big drop for me.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
unlimited data..and VoIP is data.
Just sayin'
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
unlimited = limited read the fine print! Just like everyone else there is no free lunch: Prohibited and Permissible Uses: Data Service sessions may be conducted only for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) corporate intranet access (including access to corporate email, customer relationship management, sales force automation, and field service automation applications). Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using Services: (i) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, without limitation, Web camera posts or broadcasts, continuous jpeg file transfers, automatic data feeds, telemetry applications, automated functions or any other machine-to-machine applications; (ii) as substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections; (iii) for Voice over IP; (iv) in conjunction with WWAN or other applications or devices which aggregate usage from multiple sources prior to transmission; (V) Using the Services for any activity that adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use either the Services or other parties' Internet-based resources including, but not limited to excessive consumption of network or system resources (whether intentional or unintentional) and "denial of service" (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user; or (vi) Interference with or disruption of other network users, network services or network equipment. except for CONTENT formatted in accordance with AT&T's CONTENT standards, Unlimited plans cannot be used for uploading, downloading or streaming of video content (e.g. movies, TV), music or games. Furthermore, unlimited plans (except for DataConnect and Blackberry Tethered) cannot be used for any applications that tether the device (through use of, including without limitation, connection kits, other phone/PDA-to-computer accessories, Bluetooth® or any other wireless technology) to laptops, PCs, or other equipment for any purpose. Service is not intended to provide full-time connections, and the Service may be discontinued after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage. AT&T reserves the right to (i) limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny Service and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts its network or service levels and (ii) protect its network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. You may not send solicitations to AT&T subscribers without their consent. You may not use the Services other than as intended by AT&T and applicable law. Plans are for individual, non-commercial use only and are not for resale. Security: AT&T does not GUARANTEE SECURITY. Data encryption is available with some, but not all, Services sold by AT&T. If you use your device to access company e-mail or information, it is your responsibility to ensure your use complies with your company's internal IT and security procedures. Changes to the terms and conditions: These terms and conditions may be changed from time-to-time. AT&T will post the most current version of these terms and conditions on the MEdia Net web site (www.wireless.att.com/medianet) or other appropriate location. Please check these regularly to inform yourself about changes to the terms and conditions, policies, news, etc.
Cycle of nerd idocy...
1) Booo company X, company Y is slightly more open!
2) whoo company Y is now #1!
3)WTF company Y why are you strengthening your vendor lockin!
4)X = Y, Y = new company();
5) go to 1
The sims are not changable in the iphone. You can not use it on another network apperntly there were changes to the core AT&T network system and this thing doesnt even go through the MAG.
AT&T has a 5 year contract.
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
You can get directions to a restaurant or hotel, for example, and then dial the number to the place with a tap on the screen.
Several people have said practically this exact same thing to me when I ask about the iPhone. How many times are you driving around looking for a restuarant out of the blue, and upon finding one on your phone (while you're driving?) you need to call them? Uhm, 0 or 1 is the correct answer to this question. Ever. You almost always know where you're going to go eat before you're driving around. If you need directions somewhere, presumably you knew the name of the place before getting in the car. If you're calling for reservations, you're probably not on the way there. This all just seems a little like every other feature; it sounds "so cool" until you realize you'll never need it, or even want it.
I guess you'll need to have Windows or a Mac somewhere to have a fully functional iPhone...
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
You obviously don't live in a big city, like SF which is the example they used when showing this feature. On a Friday or Saturday night a group of us will meet somewhere, most likely a mass transit hub (wtf is this driving your talking about). Then we will argue for 10 minutes on what type of food we want, then we will start taking names of restaurants serving that type of food in the area. Now it would be great to use the Google maps features of "Thai" "San Francisco" "Cole Valley" and get a list of results. Then being able to call these results with a touch of a button to see if we need a reservation.
Of course your normal suburbanite need not worry about things like this, but then they are generally a lesser type of person anyway so it is fine by me.
So if you want to use your iPhone to access your home server you have to set up a Delaware corporation!? Sheesh.
I am shocked that these plans come in less expensive than the equivalent plans for other att smartphones.
./
I guaranteed that there wouldn't be less expensive plans for iPhone people in previous posts on
I was wrong
The real news is that there is no iPhone TAX added to the plans. I am relieved that the plans are right in line with other existing plans, give or take minor details. Can you imagine the reaction here and elsewhere if for some reason they were $20 more than regular AT&T plans. I can. And they could have done it if they wanted.
The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes, and all include unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, rollover minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Any other standard AT&T service plan may also be used.
I don't care if it came with unlimited blow-jobs. AT&T will never EVER see another dime of my money.
someone who knows what's up
I'm not here to defend AT&T, however, I wouldn't say they have the worst customer service. Let's face it, most of the major US cell phone carriers have crappy customer service. I've had Bell Atlantic Mobile, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless (old), Cingular, and now AT&T (new), and, I have found none of them better or worse than the other. I think I've had my worst experiences with Verizon, when they tried to charge me a termination fee after my contract had expired, and then continued to bill me for three months of service AFTER I had cancelled my service. I've never had a problem with Cingular/AT&T other than long hold times.
If you like the Apple iPhone, I don't believe signing up with AT&T should hinder your purchase. I stick with AT&T and T-Mobile because I like GSM based phones that don't lock me out doing things with the phone, such as creating and installing a ring tone that I've made from music I already own. That's just my personal preference. I'm not planning on purchasing an iPhone just yet, though, I'd love to have one if I could afford it.
You're argument is similar to the hard drive debate. How many times have we heard "I had three drives die with xxx brand, so they are the worst, and all I buy is yyy brand...", only to see a responding post with information with the exact opposite opinion.
So, with AT&T, just like any service/subscription/purchase from a large corporation in the U.S., your mileage may vary.
Here is a question.
With no Obvious discount being offered by AT&T for the service (70 buck plan for 59 if you sign up TODAY) what is the basis of the $175 breakage fee if the phone is not activated for two years?
In other words, what value are they providing that I must reimburse them for? I would think that the plan would be a two year sign up at a $10 per month discount if you commit to two years, something like this. That way if you were to ever end up in small claims they say We gave the guy $240 bucks all we want is to be made whole.
Interestingly enough: http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Do_It.txt
...think that Slashdot or their parent company owns a shit ton of Apple stock? Seriously. I think there's been an iPhone story every day for the last two weeks. Let it go already.
Nick
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
I looked at the Family plan pricing, thinking "oh, $80 isn't too terrible for unlimited data, 700 shared minutes & free mobile to mobile." Until I noticed that they're charging you an extra $30 for every iphone you attach to the family plan. Just to be clear: they jack the price of the regular family plan if even ONE person in the family has an iphone, and then they make you pay 1.5 times the standard extra phone fee, on top of the already jacked phone price, if anyone else wants one as well? At those rates it's almost more beneficial for people in the same family to get individual plans. Yeah, as curious I am about the device, I'm almost glad I'm forced to wait on this one. Maybe by September of next year there will be some sensible plan pricing.
About 6m18s into Apple's activation and sync video there's a view of the iTunes status page for an iPhone. The storage graph suggests the capacity of the device being viewed is about 80GB rather than just 8GB.
What they are announcing is the iphone will have exactly the same plan that that their video phones had for at least a year with regular voice plans and 19.99 for unlimited data 200 text or picture or video messages. The people who have pda's have to pay more for unlimited data, as they can fleece those customers a bit more. I am willing to bet that they actually are lazy and left it at 39.99 + 19.99= 59.98 for 450. 79.98 900 etc
A few years back when I wanted to get T-Mobile service they wouldn't let me without a 2 year contract and $200 on the hook even if I didn't take a phone. Later I was able to get a pay-as-you-go service with the first month included for $60, so obviously their per-account costs are closer to the "50 cents worth of plastic" in the SIM card than the $200 they claimed was fair.
So...
1. I don't believe they've got $175 worth of costs on the hook.
2. Fat chance getting them to change it until there's a competing x-, y-, or zPhone.
Google makes a version of Google Maps explicitly for the Treo as well as other smart phones.
http://google.com/gmm/treo
I don't think that program is right. I keep getting compile errors with gcc.
There is a google maps application for the treo that does almost exactly what the iPhone does. It works very well, especially if you have a 2.5 or 3G data connection (680, 700 or 755).
The Treo's web experience, especially the 650, is rough largely because of the 1xRTT data network it rides on. The web browser is a bit sluggish as well, so it's not entirely the data connection, but it certainly doesn't help things. Keep in mind that the 1xRTT network is only marginally slower than the EDGE network that the iPhone will be largely tethered to, unless you're in a wifi hotspot area (in which case your notebook/laptop would be far more useful). If you don't believe me, try using the 650 as a dialup modem. It's almost unbearably slow to load a page in firefox.
The camera in the 650 is horrible. The one in my 755 is better but still not great, however it's serviceable for taking pictures in a pinch when you don't have a real camera with you.
I don't see the iPhone as being FAR more capable, I just see it as looking a whole lot better. In fact, I see it as being marginally less capable as most smartphones on the market, but far better integrated. That's what Apple does, and it's why the iPhone will probably be a success. It's not the mecca of smartphones yet, though. Give me VPN and the ability to provide native, non-networked apps and it'll be a lot closer. Also get it off that horrible network and give it 3G and then you might have something that I"d fork over some money for.
3. They're screwing people who don't buy a phone. i.e. possible extra 175 for them.
4. They're using it to move phones. Which is what several of the bonuses along the chain is based on.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
neither you must sign the agreement with your blood. I predict the unqualified success of iPhone!
>>Also, I must deeply apologize for being interested in Apple. I know it's a rare ailment, and that it must offend you greatly. I'm almost shedding a tear!
Don't worry, Dave. There is a remedy for that, you know.
The iPod is designed to be used without looking at it.
difficult to do with this. Not that it matters, because yes, this would make a great PDA that plays music and Videos.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
no they are not. The plans are way overpriced. 200 sms? oh come fricking on. put in there unlimited and quit raping the customers.
Older cingular plans are far more reasonable and T-moble still kicks their butts.
I wonder how long before unlocked iPhones start hitting the grey market so we can choose a more reasonable plan and provider.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The "new" AT&T is pure shit. This is fact, not opinion.
SBC had their shit together. They were the largest and most organized of the "baby bells". I never had problems with their customer service. I never had problems with their technicians. I never had outages. And they billed things correctly and with full disclosure. Sure, they were still the soul-stealing Phone Company, but at least they did things correctly.
Then they merged with "AT&T". Now, to tell the truth, the old AT&T was SBC. The other baby bells were essentially splintered off of AT&T and the remaining core was named Southwestern Bell (later SBC). But when the name brand came back with the merger with Pacific Bell, BellSouth, and a couple of others (one of them had acquired the "AT&T" name along the way), the whole thing went to shit. I used to consistently have a $52 phone/internet bill. Now, it's anywhere from $55 to $65, and it changes monthly. How difficult is it to charge the same monthly fee every month for local phone + no-surcharge long distance + DSL? Answer: apparently it's impossible for a company as incompetent as AT&T. They're morons. I wish they'd break back up and go back to being SBC. At least SBC had a functional billing system.
I won't be buying an iPhone (as much as I want one) until I can get it to work on T-Mobile's network.
$600 + $175 for 0-day termination and just use WiFi + VoIP once the proper "patches" are out.
The question really is, do you have to pay the first month $60 as well?
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Hey, you may want to read your contract for unlimited data on SprintPCS --it expressly forbids laptop teathering; however, they seem to have a policy of not billing for the teathering if it is only occassional and if you connect in to #777 rather than to a third-party dial-up line. On the other hand, some people have reported receiving multi thousand dollar bills out of the clear blue sky (for the current billing period) after months or years of never having been billed for such usage and having to adjudicate the issue through SprintPCS' executive department. Check the Sprint Users Forums for more testimonials/info.
In true revisionist fashion, the video on Apple's website has now been fixed.
To me, in 2007, phone service should be less than $20/mo, but being that people are willing to spend over $100/household for phones, the phone service people will gladly take their money.
You're not really paying for the ability to talk on the phone or connect to the internet. You're paying for the ability to talk on the phone or connect to the internet more or less anywhere. Phone companies are unscrupulous bastards, yes, but that's not the only reason phone service costs what it does.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Actually, I did the same thing.
Two years later, and I'm only using it for network applications. Because it REALLY SUCKS as a phone. Shitty speaker, idiotic half duplex microphone, unreliable ringing (sometimes it rings on an incoming call, sometimes it doesn't)... it's only usable if I use a headset, and I hate headsets - and even then, it'll randomly crash when I travel distances.
I can't wait to dump it for something that does network apps well and is actually a decent phone. I'm almost looking forward to iPhone more to dump the goddamned Treo 650 than to get all the new whizzbang stuff on the iPhone. (Almost. A phone that runs Unix...)
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
We started off with ATT Wireless back in the day, before Cingular came along. They were good. Customer service left something to be desired (I believe they outsourced to that magical land of callcenters on the other side of the world). But, I didn't drop calls, I had coverage where I went, blah blah blah, it wasn't bad. Then Cingular bought them, and offered a deal to all AT&T WS customers: Sign a 2 year contract with us, get new customer benefits (aka cheaper phones) and we'll waive your ATT ETF (and we were in a contract with ATT). We jumped on that. We wanted new phones. We wanted to add a line to a family plan.
I left the house with an ATT phone with a full signal, and came back home with a Cingular phone with a crappy signal. But we survived. Then the bill came. The bill at that time was fine, but they spelled our last name wrong. We called to get that changed. Their customer service, while not outsourced, was terrible. Long hold times, incompetent techs, and it was never changed. We called again throughout the duration of the contract. Nope, never was changed. Then later on, there were billing mistakes. Crappy customer service to the rescue. Or not. My mom was on the phone with them for 2 hours to get it resolved, which she finally did after going up the chain. Oh, and did I fail to mention coverage still sucked and we still dropped calls? Eventually, the old AT&T tower which was 3 houses down (and the reason we got excellent coverage on AT&T) was converted to Cingular, so suddenly I had full signal on my phone. Yay, right? Nah. Still had dropped calls, still had static. Dunno WTF they did to that tower, probably gave it the Cingular curse, but it was still horrible.
So, we lived with it because it just wasn't cost effective to pay the ETF on 3 lines. Eventually, my crappy Motorola broke and I replaced it with an unlocked Sony Ericsson w810i (and disproved any claim that the terrible coverage and quality was related to the phone). Then, coming up to our contract end, I called the script monkeys up to ask them when exactly our contract was up. She told me, then asked me why I wanted to know. I said we're going somewhere else. She said why. I said we have terrible coverage and drop calls all the time. She said, "I'm looking at the coverage map and yep, you don't have a strong signal near your house....oh wait, nevermind" OOPSIES!!! Probably weren't supposed to say that to the customer! (we did have a strong signal, just not one that was worth a damn).
So, one day last December, we were finally free from our contract. First thing we did as a family that morning was drop by the T-Mobile store. Fortunately, the typo on our last name (still not fixed after 2 years) didn't affect the porting process. Soon after, we left there with 4 phones (ported 3 and added one more line) and since have had excellent coverage and their customer support is just awesome. It's not outsourced, they're friendly and competent, and I've never waited on hold for more than 20 seconds. Did I mention how great their coverage is here?
Our bill with T-Mobile is CHEAPER (by about 20 bucks I believe, then again, I don't remember ever seeing a correct Cingular bill laying around the house that I could compare to) than it was with Cingular. And with T-Mobile, we have one more line than we did with Cingular and one of the lines has the BlackBerry plan (we had no extras on Cingular). One more line and unlimited data, and we're still paying less.
Since switching to T-Mobile, I've only dropped a call once. Oh yeah, that one time, I was out in the middle of nowhere Missouri and roaming on Cingular!
All jokes aside, I avoided an iPod for this exact reason. I guess in theory I could have just got an iPod and used iTunes and been happy but I am amazed at the tie in that some people are inclined to go through with. Imagine having an iPod, using your iPod specific sound system on your desk, your iPod specific doc station built into your car by the manufacturer, using an iPhone to listen to those iTunes with a ATT contract. That is way to deep for me and I have not even touched on the video side. I'm sure the integration is great but you are severely limited to choices that are offered by Apple to put all of your eggs in one basket like that. Well, you have the docking station built into the dash of your car and the 2 year contract on the iPhone, you might as well keep buying tunes from iTMS and buy another iPod if your fails. Again, you do not have to take it to that level but it seems odd that so many people are willing to do that. The idea that a simple thing such as a car maker offering only Sirius or XM is limiting my choices! To each is own I guess and my statements are neither for nor against any specific company or an attempt to change someones mind and i am familiar with the concept that other computer companies are kind of doing the same thing which does not make the situation any better or justify it.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
As far as I can tell you cannot get unlimited data for 19.99. You can get unlimited *messaging* for that price, but I'm not seeing it.
Anyone who buys a cell phone from AT&T deserves whatever they get. I'll never do business with them again! They intentionally screwed me by telling me their service worked where they *knew* that it didn't. They're a bunch of crooks and even a shiny new iPhone wouldn't change my mind.
I'd think twice before signing up for any AT&T service!
What exactly do they mean by 'Unlimited Mobile to Mobile'? Unlimited calls to other ATT Wireless users? Or any wireless user, even on different networks, eg: Sprint?
Here in Norway, it is not normal to have binding contract for no more than 12 months, and the monthly fees are much lower than the 60 bucks many people here are willing to pay. We do not for except prepaid cards not have free minutes. Most carriers have low minute prices and SMS is like 0,30 NOK each.
Trying to collect bits and pieces of information and it seems like US mobile phone contract system is like 10-15 years behind Europe. Please enlighten.
(Anyway, many get prepaid subscription (with virtually unlimited usage) and a phone from the employer too.)
Maybe they're afraid of VOIP on future 3G iPhones, but not on this one. Have you ever tried a VOIP app on GPRS? The latency is so bad it's unusable. It's not even usable on my Sprint EVDO phone tethered to a laptop, but much moreso than a GPRS data connection.
You've got some good points there. VoIP on EDGE would be unusable, but there are two reasons this could still be a concern.
1) As you note, future 3G iPhones: Open up the SDK now and have to deal with it in the future.
2) WiFi connections: Isn't the current iPhone able to use local WiFi connections?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
3 and 4 don't apply for the iPhone. :)
You can avoid the iPod because it is a free market. You can buy a Zen or even a Zune.
...With the new plans announced by Apple and AT&T, that has changed. The minimum plan with unlimited data is $59, or $1416 over two years. That makes the $500 iPhone well over a hundred dollars less than Verizon's limp Motorola Q, which is $2170 with its required service plan.
You can't do the same in the PC market. You will grow grey hairs before Dell or HP or any other PC maker will offer you real options in your OS. Sure, a few token free OS offerings to hobbyists, but no commercial competition, and no hope for that situation to change. It's been the same since the early 90s. That's a monopoly.
Avoiding Windows is like trying to avoid roads or money. Sure you can barter and live in a cave, but there is really no option to avoiding Windows. You can easily avoid any products from Apple and find all sorts of competitive alternatives.
Apple: iPhone Now Costs Less than Ballmer's Lame Motorola Q
After earlier blowing apart iPhone battery panic with an announcement of 8 hours of talk time, Apple dropped yet another bombshell upon "business as usual" in the mobile market.
That is cheeper than I am currently paying (South Africa). If their international roaming charges are PG13 then I might get one and roam. Locked in for 2 years might be a bit harsh if it breaks which is what usually happens to my phones.
Which phone has the same plans and is also free?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm pretty certain that what you see in that video is actually a Keynote presentation of the activation process using screenshots / mocked up screens. Probably someone slipped up on their decimal points.
After seeing the EnGadget plan comparisons, I agree now that other phones can have very similar plans... unless you are looking at the family plans, where the iPhone is cheaper (but only by $10 or so).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Somewhat off-topic, but there's another interesting iPhone rumor/tidbit floating in the ether today: A ZDNet Blog claims that Apple will be announcing sometime this week that they've licensed the MS Exchange ActiveSync API... which would signal that the iPhone is almost definitely compatible with Exchange Servers. For folks whose IT departments are in love with that particular software stack, I'll bet that will be big news.
My experience with EDGE suggests that while the bandwidth might be just barely there, by and large the latency isn't going to be low enough, maybe even in the best of areas.
On the other hand, if someone develops a VOIP client for the iPhone (and I think it's likely someone will, one way or another), then that'd be quite usable when in WiFi range...
Tweet, tweet.
Anyone happen to know if the phone and plan will allow for 'tethered' dial-up-networking?
Message contains 1 attachment: spam.gif
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
59.99 a month? For that much I could use 411 (a friendly service at least down here), stick to my old cellphone and buy well equipted MP3 player after a couple months...
No thank you.
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
YouTube does not work with Safari on the iPhone, nor does any flash application on any other site (like myspace music player). Instead Apple worked with Google to create a custom application that gets videos from the YouTube servers in a custom format via a custom API. I don't know how well google maps works on the iPhone version of Safari, but apparently it was poor enough that they decided to write a custom application for that as well.
Is it true you can't send picture messages?
You're buying a phone that is NOT subsidized by the contract, and you're paying higher monthly fees on the contract than a comparable contract w/out iPhone service? I think ATT is creaming their pants right now.
Umm-- I hate to point out the glaringly-obvious, but all these numbers are useless if we don't know what airtime in excess of the plans' allocations costs.
How much for overage?
>>who prides himself on the BMWs he's owned
What? Four? Ranging in age from '88 to '06. Hardly indulgent of him...
>>and lists his top 'interest' as Apple?
We are ALL interested in Apple. That's why we click on the stories under the heading "Apple".
You so silly! You make me laugh.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
In my experience its less to do with the actual capabilities of the phone, and more of the lack of capabilities of the phone network. If you try to bring up a webpage on any smart phone, the latency is on the order of seconds, even if the bandwidth is massive. Thats what really kills it for me; I like to check my Yahoo mail on my phone, and I have the old-style interface going that uses very little bandwidth. Even on a dial up connection, it loads sharpishly. However, on a phone, it takes several seconds just to get the request for the page, several seconds to send the page to my phone, and after I've entered my login info, several seconds to send that info to the network, then several seconds to finally load up my inbox. Granted, cell phone networks aren't broadband, but I'm just too damn used to the speed of my typing (which is actually rather fast) being the absolute limiting factor in how fast I can access my email.
I have the 450/5000 voice-only plan for my SE T616, with pay-per-use net, which costs $10.24 per MiB. I called them once maybe a year ago and asked about my options for data. Their answer was something like $10 for 5M, $30 for 20, or $45 for unlimited.
So, the new plans are definitely a bit better. It's still not as inexpensive as Sprint or T-Mobile, but at least it's competitive. It also includes free mobile to mobile which my current phone doesn't. So, $20 more for unlimited data and free in-network? It's a deal.
The only question I have left is whether or not the iPhone will work in a tethered mode..
The iPhone is great for an iPod and great as a little WiFi hand held browser,
forget the AT&T plan - I already have a cell phone and do not want them.
I hope Apple updates the REAL iPod with some new features developed in the iPhone...
I think you missed my point and missed my last statement that said "i am familiar with the concept that other computer companies are kind of doing the same thing which does not make the situation any better or justify it." I don't need the "MS is the evil as well" speech either because my post was just as anti MS as it was anti Apple. My goal is not to avoid Apple or MS, it is to avoid being trapped by an increasing number of things that require each other to be useful. I just bought a portable GPS unit, it runs Windows CE, I don't give a crap what it runs, I do not need a Windows home PC or a Windows cell phone to use it, it is a stand alone product that works regardless of me having a Linux or an Apple computer. If that same GPS unit required me to have a Windows Home PC, a subscription to MSN, a Windows antenna and a Windows CE phone for it to work, I would not have bought it.
My point was putting all of your eggs in one basket and dedicating you future purchases towards one product like some people are with the iPod accessories and services seems too much like a trap to me. I could buy an iPod and buy nothing else to go with it and not be trapped in anything and I would be fine with that. I could have a Q (which I did in the past and got rid of it). With that Q, am I also buying from the Motorola music website, the Motorola compatible dock in the dashboard of my car, a Motorola streaming solution, a Motorola compatible desktop docking station, using a Motorola website to also buy videos, using a Motorola device to hear music along with a portable Motorola music player as well? Imagine a few years down the road and I do not Motorola's offerings? I have a shit load of stuff that is now completely useless to me. Substitute the word Motorola for MS or Apple and the same applies. The OS that may run a lot of those devices may be MS, it may not be MS. I am not saying that being an all in one solution is not a good choice for some but it is NOT a choice I will make regardless of Apple, MS, or Motorola.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
When you snoop around the forums for the OPTION cards that support HSDPA, which should support 3Mbps+, people are THRILLED to get 300Kbps, which is fine for "bursty" traffic, but when you've got a 100MB download to chew through and your device is fully capable of pulling it down in 4, not 45, minutes...that difference gets a bit nerving, especially at $50/month. No, I don't expect it 24/7, but damn...
If you only want it as an iPod, wait three months. At that point, iPod video is 2 years old and it will have been 9 months since Steve Jobs said the iPhone is "the best iPod we've ever made." Obviously, the wide screen, multi-touch, and Cover Flow are all coming to iPod video, I bet the Wi-Fi and Web browser come along also. With big disks in them they will be fatter than iPhone but not huge.
... the iPod features are sizzle right now for the iPhone but not going to be exclusive to it for long.
Part of the reason the iPhone has had so much hype is that they put the first next-generation iPod into it
My first cell phones (1989) cost $15.00 a month through C&P Telephone (pronounced Verizon now). It worked great because I only used them on nights and weekends. Otherwise, it was $0.68 a minute. Verizon fixed all that for me by jacking up everything they possibly could so those dreaded high phone bills of the past are automatic now.
Most of the stuff on
I *know* I really wanted a feature like this MANY times when traveling. If I'm out of town on a business trip, I very likely have limited access to the Internet for starters. The connection on my phone may very well be all I've got easy access to at all.
When you finish work and your co-worker says "Hey, let's find some dinner!" - what do you do? Probably start driving around and stop at the first thing you run into that's acceptable, right? Or possibly, ask the front desk person at your hotel for recommendations and directions, which are just as often useless as accurate.
But imagine instead, you just pull out your phone and do a search for all restaurants of a given type within 5 miles of your hotel's address? Now you've got current, accurate info and even a phone number to dial if you want to make reservations or something.
Sure, I always consider vendor "convictions" (although in fact it was a civil action against MS) when selecting a product no matter how well or poorly it fits my needs or whether it locks me in.
So I guess Linux is just a mythical OS since there's not a free market in personal computers and you have to use Windows.
Linux is free to obtain.
If the only thing that can compete against Windows is free, and while even being free is making little impact on the desktop, then it's a sign that the market may not be open to competition.
It is also difficult to get Linux on name brand PCs. If you have to buy Windows, remove it and install Linux (or BSD or whatever), then it's hardly a competitor, because you've bought Windows. Remember than Microsoft doesn't care if a handful of people use Linux, as long as they also buy the Windows license.
Imagine a few years down the road and I do not Motorola's offerings? I have a shit load of stuff that is now completely useless to me. Substitute the word Motorola for MS or Apple and the same applies.
You may want to re-read what you wrote here...a few years down the road the vast majority of the electronic devices currently in circulation will be landfill, because they will be completely useless to the vast majority of the populace. What was your argument again?
Did you actually try to put together a new phone plan package with that SmartPhone Connect etc? You can only use it with a Cingular 3125 flip phone. Any of the real PDA phones (iPhone equivalents) like the treos etc. require a $39.99 data plan for unlimited access.
The issue was being locked in. With the payment made to brand name PC companies, you're probably not really paying for Windows anyway. And what about Apple computers? They are personal computers that don't require Windows.
Amazing new fact discovered about economics: Prices are determined, not only by cost, but also by what customers are willing to pay!
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
If you have 20 devices and services that attach, connect to, or interface with a widget by CompanyX, you are more then likely going to be buying another widget made by CompanyX when yours breaks and the cycle will continue. If you decide that something else might be a good choice and do not buy another widget made by CompanyX, the other 19 things that you invested in, that are integrated into your vehicle, that you have extended contracts on etc.. are now useless or reduced in capability. The 20 things you have all work together and are part of a team of devices for integration. Those 20 things are not as useful without the other 19. A widget docking station you paid for in your car is of no value any longer if you do not have a widget to connect to it. The docking station on your desk is not a useful any longer without an widget to connect to it. I am not trying to pick on any widget made by any compnay, only the concept of getting yourself stuck into a circle of products. What does stuff ending up in a landfill have to do with this concept anyway? I would say that would make the problem I point out worse because you keep buying stuff for to maintain the same integration over and over again.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
While I suppose that is possible, I've never heard of anyone doing that here in the US. I was actually surprised that people did it in Europe...figured it was the same way everywhere as here....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Except I do remember seeing pictures of the treo in the keynote and other phones of that caliber. I can't imagine they are expecting less data use on the iphones the way they are marketing it - hence my surprise.
***** READ THIS IT MIGHT SAVE YOU MONEY AND EMBARRESTMENT********
IF YOU ARE GETTING AN IPHONE RUN YOUR CREDIT NOW!!!!
I am a Sprint/Nextel and AT&T Represenative (Work for Radioshack) and I find what AT&T and does like every cell phone carrier is PUSH the extra's.
Go to your local Rad-shack or At&T store and grab a Rate plan
AT&T ALWAYS F*^cks up their plans they show the price with the Media Max packages and it confuses people!!!
Now on top of everything if you think your'e walking out of the store with a Iphone for the price advertised your CRAZY
The one reason I Hate Cingular/The New At&T and why 90% of my business is Sprint/Nextel is
THE DEPOSITS!!!!
On an average I get 400 dollar deposits with them where I get 2-3 lines approved with Sprint
(Don't get me wrong I think At&T/Cingular is a way better service but they advertise wrong and there deposits are way too high!!)
SO AGAIN IF YOU ARE GETTING AN IPHONE RUN YOUR CREDIT NOW!!!!
This will now change when open the account!! In fact it may go up when the Iphone comes out!!
Buy the phone from eBay or from any store - I believe carriers will unlock phones for you if they come locked and you pay full price, and independent stores are likely to have unlocked phones on hand. I don't know about month to month postpaid accounts, but I know you can buy prepaid SIMs. Here is a site that sells them (at seemingly ridiculous prices), but you can probably get them from a Cingular or T-Mobile store too.
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This is kinda annoying: The minimum plan for the iPhone is cheaper than my plan with Sprint, with unlimited internet and 500 minutes (and two phones, even with just one phone it'd be cheaper.) Except 200 texts is crap, but AT&T has an unlimited text for 5 bucks I think, so even then it's cheaper. So really, it seems the main costs at issue are the 1 time phone purchase, and any sort of contract or security deposits